Sunday, 29 April 2018

In own world | William Carlos Williams: Complete Destruction

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L1200866-chizhgora2017 | by Emil Gataullin

L1200866-chizhgora2017 | Chizhgora, Akhangelsk region, Russia, 2017: photo by Emil Gataullin, 24 April 2018

William Carlos Williams: Complete Destruction

It was an icy day.
We buried the cat,
then took her box
and set match to it

in the back yard.
Those fleas that escaped
earth and fire
died by the cold. 

William Carlos Williams (1883-1963): Complete Destruction [1919], from Sour Grapes, 1921

L1280658 | by Emil Gataullin

 L1280568  | Arkhangelsk region, Russia, 2018: photo by Emil Gataullin, 22 March 2018

DSC08967=stavrosstam | by stavrosstam

Untitled | by Md. Imam Hasan

 Mumbai 2017: photo by Muhammad Imam Hasan, 7 September 2017


#Mexico Newborn jaguar cubs draw fans at Mexico wildlife park Photo @PPardo #AFP: image via Frédérique Geffard @fgeffardAFP, 28 April 2018

_DSC8190 | by Pierre Wayser

Untitled | by pratyay

 part of 'In own world' series: photo by pratyay, 30 October 2016

Untitled | by pratyay

 part of 'In own world' series: photo by pratyay, 30 October 2016

Untitled | by pratyay

 part of 'In own world' series: photo by pratyay, 30 October 2016

 
The disappearing jobs of yesterday.  In Gaza, a kerosene cooker. Photo @mohmdabed #AFP: image via AFP Photo @AFPphoto, 28 April 2018
 
DSC06586 | by stavrosstam

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3 comments:

  1. TC29 April 2018 at 05:40

    Barry McGuire covering P.F. Sloan: Eve of Destruction (live on Hullabaloo, 20 September 1965; intro Jerry Lewis)

    The song coaxed by history out of a brilliant 19 year old kid who had been writing bubble gum tunes. This was two months before the Ia Drang Valley.

    "The eastern world it is exploding."

    P.F. Sloan: Eve of Destruction (live) 2014

    RIP PF Sloan

    A great coward who "embraces" the "idea" of the total destruction of everything - an anomaly surely. Mais, c'est moi.

    The Hullabaloo cover version by BMcG is a curious thing indeed. The pain Barry is going through (why did it make me think of KellyAnne Conway on steroids) looks very real, from the contortions. An expert on these things, am humble I. The Destruction of Everything grows curiouser still @1:30, when the mysterious shadow figures in background begin to perform strange pumping motions. Is this an oil field at the end of the world... a collective cultural death rite... or what. Seems we weren't meant to ask. After a minute or so however the problem appears to solve itself, or else they have simply found something better to do, the pumping shadow figures.

    So that's it then - the Destruction of Everything is an Avant Garde Dance Performance occurring at an unknown location in an industrial section of Deep Space. I can go with that. Wish it would get a move on, in fact.

    The eastern world it is exploding Violence flarin', bullets loadin' You're old enough to kill but not for votin' You don't believe in war but what's that gun you're totin' And even the Jordan River has bodies floatin' But you tell me Over and over and over again my friend Ah you don't believe We're on the eve of destruction Don't you understand what I'm trying to say? Can't you feel the fears I'm feeling today? If the button is pushed there's no running away There'll be no one to save with the world in a grave Take a look around you boy It's bound to scare you boy And you tell me Over and over and over again my friend Ah you don't believe We're on the eve of destruction Yeah my blood's so mad, feels like coagulatin' I'm sitting here just contemplatin' I can't twist the truth, it knows no regulation And a handful of senators don't pass legislation And marches alone can't bring integration When human respect is disintegratin' This whole crazy world is just too frustratin' And you tell me Over and over and over again my friend Ah you don't believe We're on the eve of destruction. Ah think of all the hate there is in Red China Then take a look around to Selma, Alabama You may leave here for four days in space But when you return it's the same old place The pounding of the drums the pride and disgrace You can bury your dead but don't leave a trace Hate your next-door neighbor but don't forget to say grace And tell me over and over and over and over again my friend You don't believe We're on the eve of destruction Ah, no you don't believe We're on the eve of destruction

    PF Sloan 1965

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  2. TC29 April 2018 at 05:44

    And even the Jordan River has bodies floatin'

    a wiseguy level of prescience, aetat 19

    ReplyDelete
  3. STEPHEN RATCLIFFE2 May 2018 at 16:50

    Tom,

    I notice more of Williams' fiddling -- New Directions CP notes that "match" in line 4 was "fire" in Sour Grapes -- a good move it seems.

    Steve

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